Beauty. Fashion. Lifestyle.
Posts tagged Holographic
Christmas Swap Box with +10 Kapow
1
7 years
by Naomi in Swaps
I absolutely love putting together gift boxes for people, and of course I love surprises myself, so a little while ago I suggested to Chrissie of +10 Kapow that we do a Christmas Swap, and luckily she was up for the idea! We decided on a budget of £20, and agreed to fill a shoebox with little gifts that we thought the other would like. I had a lot of fun searching for items to give to Chrissie, and after a few weeks of browsing, buying and wrapping, the box was ready to send. Our deadline for posting was 5th December, and last week we each received our box of goodies!
As both of us are impatient we decided to open and blog about our gifts before Christmas, so without further ado, here’s what I received!
As you can see, my swap from Chrissie came beautifully packaged. The box itself is stunning, and puts the cardboard one I sent her to shame! I’ll definitely be using it to store things in, probably rings or nail varnishes.
There were eight wrapped gifts in the box, including a jewellery box which I was really excited about. I hurriedly unwrapped everything, and was delighted with all that Chrissie sent. I must say she chose well! Here’s what I got…
The first gift is this Baked Merged Trio Eyeshadow from MUA, in shade ‘Emotions’. All three shades have a slight shimmer to them, and are impressively pigmented. The neutral tones are perfect for a daytime look, and I can see myself using these shades a lot for a work make up look, although with some dramatic eyeliner they could easily be dressed up.
My lips get very dry at this time of year, so finding this Nivea Lip Butter in the box was much appreciated! The lip butter feels lovely and nourishing, and smells amazing too, like vanilla and macadamia. This has now become a winter essential for me and comes everywhere with me.
I spotted this Body Shop Glazed Apple Body Butter when browsing The Body Shop website a few weeks, and was really intrigued by it, so as you can imagine I was pleased to find this in the box too! I use body butters on a daily basis and have done for years, so this was very well chosen, and is incredibly moisturising. The Glazed Apple scent is lovely too – fruity, but also sweet and creamy.
Yet another product that I’ve been wanting to try – MUA Luxe Velvet Lips! This shade is called ‘Serene’, and is a dark peach shade with a pink undertone. It’s very highly pigmented, has a creamy texture so applies beautifully, and is long-lasting. I like it, and aesthetically, I also like the frosted tube.
This awesome keyring is triple awesome – it’s Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which I’ve loved since I was a kid, he’s a rat, and it’s lego! I’m going to hang this from my bag because I’m cool like that. Isn’t he fab?!
Chrissie made this galaxy necklace herself, and it’s my favourite item that she sent me. It’s really well made, and purple, pink and turquoise happen to be my favourite colours. I’ve been wearing it a lot since I got it, sometimes alone, but also layered with a couple of my other favourite necklaces, which I think looks great on a plain top.
Batman! A Batman ring! I’m sure it’s clear by now that I’m a big Batman fan, and this ring is absolutely fab. I really like how subtle it is, whilst also being super cool.
This pretty galaxy scarf has the same colour palette as the necklace Chrissie made, and is so soft and snuggly and warm. I’ve been wearing this lately to add a splash of colour to some of my darker winter outfits, and it seems to attract compliments!
Purple shades and holo effects are two of my favourite things to decorate my nails with, so this nail polish from Freckles Polish is perfect for me. The shade is called ‘I’ll Need Wine’, and is a rich purple colour, a bit like red wine, with a beautiful holo shimmer. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of me wearing it, but it applies nicely and is stunning on – fabulous for the festive season. Chrissie recently sent me some stamping plates too, so I plan on creating some looks soon using them and this polish, which I’ll be posting about soon.
I’m really happy with everything Chrissie sent me (thanks Chrissie!), and I hope we can do another swap one day! To see what I sent Chrissie in return, you can check out her post here.
Have you taken part in any Christmas swaps this year? If so, what did you send/receive? I’d love to see your posts about it!
Naomi x
NOTD: Primark Spotty Nail Polish
3
8 years
by Naomi in Nails
I’ve been wanting Illamasqua’s Speckled nail polishes ever since they were released, but at £14.50 each I just couldn’t justify buying them. Then, whilst queueing in Primark at the weekend, I spotted this Spotty nail polish, which is a dupe of Illamasqua’s Speckle – their discontinued speckled lilac shade. And the best part? Primark’s Spotty was discounted from £2 to just £1!
The polish has a creme base, and is crammed full of black glitter and micro glitter, which in the right light has a beautiful holographic sheen. The overall finish reminds me of a Cadbury Mini Egg, which is perfect for Spring and the run up to Easter! The polish has a smooth consistency and applies evenly, giving opaque coverage in two coats, but it takes a while to dry. Not ideal, but not really a problem if you’re not in a rush.
My only issue with the polish is that, when I first used it, lots of little air bubbles got trapped underneath (as you can see above), so it looked and felt a bit lumpy. It could’ve been due to the base coat I used though, so next time I’ll give it a miss to see if it makes a difference.
In terms of staying power, I wore this for three days before removing it, and by that point it had barely chipped at all. I imagine it would last for almost a week before starting to look scruffy.
Overall, this is a lovely, pretty polish, and I’m so pleased I finally have a speckled polish in my collection. I just wish I’d picked up the other shades too!
What do you think of my bargain find?
Naomi x
Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish in Ultra Violet
9
9 years
by Naomi in Nails
On my birthday I got quite a few bottles of nail varnish, and the one I chose to wear on the day was this one from my mum – Layla Hologram Effect in Ultra Violet. I’ve always liked the look of hologram nail varnishes but have never got round to buying one myself, so I was very pleased to see this in my pile of presents, especially as it’s my favourite colour. Thanks mum!
Layla isn’t a brand that I’m familiar with, but according to their website they are based in Milan, Italy, and sell a wide range of make up as well as nail products.
This varnish has a fairly thick consistency, but it comes with a decent brush so applies easily and evenly, and despite the glittery look dries smooth to the touch. However, it does take a little while to dry, and if you attempt to apply the second coat whilst the first is still sticky it can cause some streaking, so it’s best to be patient with application if you want to achieve neat coverage! It only takes two coats to create an opaque finish, which is always my test of a good quality varnish, and this one passes.
In the bottle, Ultra Violet looks a dusky purple colour with an undertone of grey, but on the nails it looks slightly paler. However, once you’re in the right light the hologram effect really comes alive, and it’s impressively strong! The hologram looks 3D and shines a rainbow of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink and purple in both natural and indoor light, and at the same time the glitter shimmers beautifully underneath. It’s difficult to put into words just how stunning this varnish is, so here are a few pictures of it in different lights to give you an idea…
No hologram effect.
Hologram effect without flash.
(It actually looks a lot more colourful than this in reality but it was difficult to capture on camera.)
Hologram effect with flash.
I have been wearing Ultra Violet for three days now, with a top coat, and it has lasted really well. The ends have started to chip today so I will probably remove the varnish soon, but other than that the coverage still looks neat and vibrant.
Overall, I would definitely recommend Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish as it is excellent quality and the hologram effect is powerful and very, very pretty. A lot better than the Boots 17 hologram varnish I’ve seen in reviews! The colour is a bit more interesting than the typical silver hologram too. If you’d like to try this range for yourself, it may be difficult to locate in shops, but Ultra Violet is available on Amazon here, and you can find other shades here.
Do you like the look of this varnish?
Naomi x
NOTD: Models Own ‘Northern Lights’
30
9 years
by Naomi in Nails
Welcome to my first long-awaited, much requested review of one of the beautiful nail varnish shades from the new Models Own Wonderland Collection. The Wonderland Collection features five sparkly shades, all of which are perfect for the festive season and have particularly wintry names, including Jack Frost, Southern Lights, Snow Flake, Northern Lights and Blizzard. They can all be used as a top coat for a hint of shimmer, or can be layered up to create a bold glitter look! The three varnishes I currently own and will be reviewing over the coming weeks are Jack Frost, Southern Lights and Northern Lights, with Northern Lights being featured today.
Northern Lights consists of a very fine dusky pink glitter, and is studded with delicate flakes of holographic glitter which shine purple, blue, orange, yellow and green in most lights. Even in the bottle, the varnish is breathtaking, and I have never seen anything quite like it before. Northern Lights is an extremely suitable name for such a shade, as it has so much depth of colour and appears to have a fluidity to it that alters the colour at every glance – it’s just SO pretty! I really can’t do it justice with words.
Like all Models Own nail varnishes, Northern Lights applies easily and evenly due to the long, wide brush. The glitter might be fine but it is also very dense, so it only took me two coats of varnish to achieve a completely opaque look, and as with most dense glitter varnishes it dries very quickly. The varnish doesn’t have a smooth finish and actually feels slightly rough due to the density of the glitter, but I suppose that’s to be expected. I added one layer of top coat over the top to see whether it would make it feel smoother, but it didn’t make much difference in all honesty.
Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Swatches! I found it quite difficult to capture the true beauty of Northern Lights, so since it looks different in different lights anyway, I decided to take several different swatch photos.
Inside with Flash
Inside without Flash
Outside with Flash
Outside without Flash
Close Ups
See, I told you, it’s amazingly stunning! Right? You can see the holographic shine in some of the pictures above, but none of them really show it in all its twinkly glory. You just have to see it to believe it really (which is a great excuse to go shopping in Boots if you ask me!). Northern Lights is worth absolutely every penny of the £5 I paid for it, although I did get it in a 3 for 2 offer which makes it that little bit sweeter. It’s perfect for this time of year too… It makes me feel so Christmassy and I’ve had countless compliments whilst wearing it, even from people I don’t know.
Northern Lights is also very durable and long-lasting. I applied it on Monday this week, and only yesterday (Friday) did it start to show wear at the tips of my nails. Today it has chipped slightly, but it stayed looking close to perfect for five whole days, and survived four long, hard days at work – impressive! Unfortunately, like most glitter varnishes, it is a massive pain in the bum to remove, so you need to have a lot of patience when taking it off.
Northern Lights is available separately or as part of the Wonderland Collection Box Set on the Models Own website, or can be found in most Boots stores for just £5. If you’re thinking of getting it but can’t decide then my advice is to go for it… I can guarantee you will NOT be disappointed!
Naomi x
